A Motherboard to bridge the past with the future?

[raindog406]

I currently have an abit kt7-raid and have done everything I could to try to get USB working to no avail, so I am left with the choice of either getting a USB PCI card or spending an extra few bucks and getting a new motherboard. I'm pretty happy with how I have everything configured right now aside from the USB headache that I've had for the 1.5 or so years I've had this motherboard, and honestly haven't had a cleaner, smoother running computer ever.

The question I present to you guys, since I haven't really been paying much attention to hardware lately is this. Is there a motherboard that would support my old tbird700@1050 and my old ram but still be able to support an Athlon XP and DDR ram? If so, which one would you guys recommend. If not, what would you do in my situation. Any suggestions on getting USB running? (I have tried just about anything, but a fresh perspective might be handy). My system configuration is as follows:

Windows XP Professional
Athlon Thunderbird 700@1050 (10.0x105)
Abit KT7-RAID
Asus V7700 Geforce2GTS 32M (220/405)
IBM Deskstar 75GXP (still works!)
Soundblaster Live! Value
3Com Adsl Modem
Linksys 100Mbps network card

Again, I'm pretty happy with my configuration other than the lack of usb and possibly the lack of a 133mhz front side bus. Thanks for the help.

bill

 

[AkumaBao]

Well, as for a mobo that can support SDRAM, DDR, T-Birds, and XP's, I think you are looking for an ASUS A7A266. It's the only one I know of that supports both, SDRAM, and DDR. I'm sure there are more, but not sure. You would probably be better off chosing between a DDR or SDRAM mobo. That A7A266 has had it's fill of problems. I'm sure the latest BIOS fixed it all, but as far as I know you can only get it from the Deutchland site now.

Isn't your Athlon a "Classic" Athlon? Did they make 'socket A' athlons with that low of MHz? You sure it's not a Slot A?

 

[raindog406]

They did, but they were pretty rare. The "green meanies" were a batch of 700's that were running at 1G+. PCNut was selling them in combos for a while, and that's where I got mine. That's a bummer that only one board supports both types of ram. Are all socket A boards compatible with both the tbird and the XP? I really only want to get one thing right now. Next thing I know you're gonna tell me I have to get a different processor to run at over 133Mhz FSB. What's the verdict on that?

bill

 

[tenoc]

ECS K7S5A. SDRAM and DDR, any socket A processor, available eveywhere, etc., etc.

Oh yeah! USB as well!

 

[tenoc]

Yes, you will need a processor that supports 133 to run at that fsb,
substantial o/cing aside.

 

[raindog406]

Do they overclock pretty well?

bill

 

[tenoc]

Not an o/c-friendly board. I run 133fsb procs at 138. That's the useful limit.

If you think a PCI card will solve your USB problem, that would be cheaper
and easier than a mobo transplant! Unless you really want to play?

Belkin has one with four ports with full band-width to all four.

 

[raindog406]

Hmmm... well the USB device that I really need it for "recommends" a 133mhz fsb anyway, so I thought maybe I could kill two birds with one stone. Anyone using some kind of 24/96 USB audio device on a system with a slower fsb than 133? Just curious if the recommended spec was a bit pumped up (Digidesign is about the only company I know of that recommends more than they usually require). If any of you guys are familiar, the product I need USB support for is the MBox. Sometime over this summer is when Pro ToolsLE / Mbox for WinXP is slated for release. Until then does anyone know of a cheap sound card with synchrous input / output? I want to be able to use ProTools Free and Acid until I get the real deal. The Digigram VXPocket may be a temporary solution for my laptop, but I was hoping for something cheaper on a pci card possibly to be able to do stuff on my desktop computer. I have a SBLive Value right now. All I really need is synced input and output. Thanks.

bill

 

[Athlon4all]

I would go for ECS K7S5A. I did recent a similar thing. I put my Spitfire Duron 800 running at 100fsb into this K7S5A, with my 256Megs of PC133. Although there is no ocing, this may fit the bill. If ocing is really that important, then your only other option is Asus A7A266-E. I bold the E because the original A7A266, performed very poorly compared to the competition, especially when running the fsb asynchorously to the Memory. Unfortunately, I have yet to see it anywhere

As for 133fsb, well I9 would not put such a emphasis on what the system reqs say about that. They could have been reffering to 133fsb in relation to Intel's P6 architechure, because, keep in mind even at 100fsb, the Athlon's is really at 200MHz DDR.

Also, one other thing. If u really want ocing with K7S5A, you may have an option. It all depends on whether you needed to increase the vcore to get that T-Bird to 1GHz. With the K7S5A, you can force the fsb to 133MHz, although you can't increase the vcore, or lower the multiplier, but if you think about it, you're running that T-Bird right now at 1GHz, but if you were to use the default multiplier (7x) on K7S5A, and increase the fsb, you'll get 931MHz, which isn't quite as high as your oc now on Kt7-RAID but still, it'll prolly be faster via the 266fsb. You understand what I'm saying? And even if you do need to increase the vcore, you can always do the pencil trick on the L7 bridges to force the vcore to 1.85v. Any questions?

 

[raindog406]

Dang, I wish there was a path to take that didn't feel like some kind of compromise. I guess that path is upgrading CPU/ram/MB all at the same time, which I really don't have the money for right now. Maybe I'll just get one of those Belkin USB cards to keep things on the cheap. In the system requirements for that USB device I'm looking into it recommends a kt133a chipset. I guess it is really pure speculation what it will really require until the thing is released. Is anyone running ProToolsLE or PTFree on an amd system with a kt133 chipset? If so, is it buggy or crash-prone?

bill

 

[jiffylube1024]

<< I'm sure the latest BIOS fixed it all, but as far as I know you can only get it from the Deutchland site now. >>



Umm... we don't really call it "Deutchland" ... we call it Germany! Just a heads-up on nomenclature